What started as one mother’s grieving response to the death of a daughter has grown into one of Denver’s most respected nonprofits serving needy children.
Kenzi’s Causes, a Colorado based nonprofit that provides low income children and families assistance throughout the year, provided 7,967 low income students backpacks full of school supplies through their Packz4Kidz program. In its 9th year, the Packz4Kidz program impacted the Denver metro area, Greeley, Avon, Rifle, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo and hopes to expand to more communities in 2024.
In addition to backpacks full of school supplies, students were provided socks from Bombas, a wooden toy car provided by Toys for Gods Kids and toothbrush and toothpaste kits from Henry Schein. Books, additional supplies, lunch boxes, water bottles and socks were also handed out on a first come, first served basis. 204,326 items were given out statewide through our Packz4Kidz program.
The Denver event was held at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the first recipient in line arrived at 4am. The YMCA hosted the CO Springs event and Columbine Ford hosted the Rifle event. The Pueblo event was held in partnership with Servicios de La Raza’s community event and ran out of backpacks within the first hour. In addition to the events listed above, multiple schools and partnering nonprofits also received backpacks from our Packz4Kidz program.
We would not be able to do the work we do without the 100 plus Volunteers who donated over 250 hours to help us run these events and our generous Packz4Kidz sponsors: Quickspex, Osprey Tree Foundation, Suncor, Alpine Bank, First Bank, Platte River Mortgage, Waste Management , Henry Schein, Adventure Dental, Vision & Orthodontics, Evans Case, Fox 31 Denver, Colorado’s Own Channel 2, ENT Credit Union, Air Academy Federal Credit Union, Hero Services, Bachus & Schanker Cares Foundation, Absense Soft, Sooper Credit Union, PDC Energy, GPCS, Union Rock, Enova, Pulte Mortgage, Weitz Company, Taddonio Family Foundation, Mountain View Pain Center, OneFirefly, Credit Union of Colorado. Civitan Club of Aurora, Univision, Starbucks Foundation, Bombas, Columbine Ford, Metcalf Evacation, Garfield County, and Tricia Lee.
As an organization, we see the need is huge and that there is a dire need for this program. Packz4Kidz is a community event held on the 1st and 2nd Saturday every August and offers many opportunities for local support and involvement through Corporate Sponsorships, donation drives and volunteerism. For information on giving to Kenzi’s Causes and its programs, visit https://kenziscauses.org
Kenzi’s Causes was founded in 2007 after Jessica Bachus’ daughter Kenzi was stillborn at 24 weeks. Overcome with grief, Jessica felt compelled to channel her emotions into something that would honor Kenzi’s memory. With this notion, Kenzi’s Causes was created so that Jessica and her family could provide dolls to young girls at Christmastime who would otherwise go without. Jessica collected over 150 dolls the first year and since then Kenzi’s Causes has expanded, providing support to over 83,000 children across Colorado. Jessica and her husband Kyle have three living children and are dedicated to serving the community they live in.
